Modern integrated circuits, typically silicon based structures, have very high integration density. As one descriptive parameter of this, the number of transistors per given surface area is growing steadily. However, integrated circuit based electronics are not optimal for all applications. For some applications, the integration density and/or speed of the electronics is less crucial. Therefore, for certain applications, different types of printable electronics are becoming more and more interesting.
One approach to reducing transistor cost, while still maintaining acceptable performance, is to produce thin-film transistors on a suitable substrate by printing. Here printing means that at least some device layers have been manufactured by printing techniques. There are several known ways of manufacturing basic conductive patterns of printed circuit boards.
In some manufacturing methods, a dielectric portion needs to be accurately positioned on top of a narrow patterned conducting portion, for instance a printed gate of a transistor. There exists a general need to further improve patterning of dielectric on top of narrow electrically conducting components for achieving accurate patterning of the dielectric and cost-efficient large scale manufacturing.